Allie Sloan

Dr. White
Comm. 333
Textual Analysis Research Assignment
The Untethered Soul
By Michael A. Singer

Background
The Untethered Soul found its way into my life over this past summer
when I needed a little extra motivation inside myself. I was feeling a little
lost and didnt know how to explain it, much less how to handle what that
lost was. On the cover of this book it reads, the journey beyond
yourself, even though I wasnt sure what to expect from this book, I did
however know that was exactly what I was looking for. I have always been
a very spiritual person and not in the traditional since. My parents raised
me to be very independent and to be in touch with what was happening in
this world around me. However as I have grown into a young adult, I have
stumbled on many questions about growing up, heath, people I encounter
and even who my own person is. These questions have of course only
come up over the years after dealing with things that are inevitably hard to
deal with. Things like changes in your life and learning how to deal with
them is hard but its also important to pay attention to. One situation that
has brought many questions to my brain is the state of dealing with death.
In the last three years I can count on two hands the number of deaths that
have occurred around me to people I know very well; who had been both
young and old. This goes without saying, when I found myself in front of
this book, I was looking for some answers. The Untethered Soul does not
explain how to live a healthy life on the outside by what you eat and
whether or not you exercise, but rather how you can live a healthy life on

the inside. Through the culture of this book, it teaches its audience how to
proses through thoughts, feelings and energy to create a totally happy and
healthy life by connecting the mind, body and spirit.
One of my very best friends at Queens, Liza had told me about this
book a few months before I actually picked it up. She had read it after
going through some personal things in high school and after telling me a
little about it, I was immediately interested in what this book had to offer. I
even learned later on that many of my other schoolmates had not only
heard of this book as well but it was also a tool that had helped them in
some way. This was amazing to hear that this book I had come to love so
much was also helping others my own age work through various situations
in and around their life.

The Untethered Soul

The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship
with your inner thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and
fluctuation of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free
yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that
limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the
door to a life lives in the freedom of your innermost being(Singer). From
the first time reading this summary on its back cover when I first picked
this book up, I knew the tone of this book was going to truly speak to me.
With its peaceful voice and spiritual explanations of this so-called journey

of life the author, Michael A. Singer breaks his book down into five parts or
stages of prospecting:
Part 1: Awakening Consciousness
Part 2:Experiencing Energy
Part 3: Freeing Yourself
Part 4:Going beyond
Part 5:Living Life
By breaking the book into these five sections, Singer uses his book as a
representation of an actual journey. This gives the book a clear and steady
form; which is what turns a group of random facts into a story (Brummett
pg.52) or in this case, a journey. With each part being a representation of a
stage of processing and the finish line being happiness it was easy to see
the persona Singer gave to this book. This book definitely takes on the
persona and in a way personifies the role of a spiritual guide. From start to
finish The Untethered Soul uses examples, culturally well know expressions
and words as well as spiritual understandings to teach you not only how to
connect but properly connect the mind, body and spirit to form positive
healthy energy in our so called human factories.
In part 3 of chapter 11: Pain, The Price Of Freedom, I dived into
understanding the challenges that can come with pain. What is pain and
how do we deal with it? And, why do we have to deal with it? Singer shows
his audience from the very beginning of this chapter that pain is an
essential feeling that is important to deal with. If you do not learn to be

comfortable with [pain], you will devote your life to avoiding it (Singer
pg.103). Relating all things back to your inner person, he explains that pain
is just a feeling like any other. You can handle a feeling; its just part of
creation(Singer pg.103). How Singer uses his tone and with the way he
words his sentences so peacefully is what made this book not only an easy
read for me but also one I fully enjoyed. With the language he used I was
able to do exactly what he had intended for this book, I was captivated and
took everything and personalized it to work around my own head and own
struggles.
I feel this book truly does speaks to a young adult/college student
audience not just by how well Singer does with his lessons and
explanations and use of his captivating language, but in the fact that this is
truly a self-help book. I know for myself, this is the first time I have ever
really seen thoughts like these laid out, processed and even explained like
this before. It is a hard world out there for young adults and it is okay to
sometimes say, Hey, I may need some help figuring these things out.
These things, majority of the time being feelings, I have learned that the
only way to a truly healthy and happy life style is through acknowledging
everything that passes through you. If you are not aware of these things or
hold on to negative energy for too long you are more than likely at a higher
risk of depression.
Singer does an excellent job of making sure the text is clear and
strongly coherent from start to finish. He leaves little to no room for

wanting to know more and there was never a time of confusion or

uncertainty. With his clear explanations in each chapter and parts of the
book Singer made it easy to read this book as a literal journey within your
own self. What I truly loved most about this read and what stood out to me
the most was the detail that came up over and over again. Singer reminds
his audience to go into every struggling thought by removing ones own self
from the given situation and remind yourself that, you are sitting on a
planet spinning around in the middle of absolutely nowhere around a
random star. At fist thinking this sounded a little harsh and even a little
eerie, I didnt see the importance of seeing yourself as something that
small. This is important to remember to personalize nothing in a negative
way and to have the energy you produce be as healthy and clean as
possible. From [the planet] perspective, [would] you really care what
people think about your clothes or the car your drive? How can you let
these meaningless things cause pain? (Singer pg.102). Singer refers to
this idea, as a form of perspective though through our readings we learned
Brummett would classify this as metonymy. Metonymy expresses an
abstract idea in terms of something physical or material (Brummett. Pg.83).
I have recently even gotten the chance to use this example in real life
helping someone very close to me who struggled with depression. When I
explained looking at her situation from a different point of view and for her
to try shrinking her ideas, I could see she was really thinking about it and
how this form of thinking could really be beneficial to her.

While on the personal journey I found myself on as I was reading The

Untethered Soul, I became more and more motivated to produce the
positive energy that Singer states is naturally inside us all. When I finished
this book I found myself completely at easy to what I was so worried about
before. After reading this book I became not only happy with my spirit, as
Singer refers to as what we all are, but also at easy knowing other people
with the same idea and comparisons to what I was feeling were out there
too. This book reassured me that in fact it is very important dealing with
your mental heath and stability by making it happier by not just what you
take in but with what you put out as well. This book is a very beneficial
path to discovering pure happiness within these human factories carrying
around so many thoughts.

Work Cited

Brummett, Barry. Techniques of Close Reading. Los Angeles:

SAGE, 2010. Print.
Singer, Michael A. The Untethered Soul: The Journey beyond
Yourself. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2007. Print.